Post-UCL Win: 6 October 2022

The Daily Merengue is a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!

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What a game from Rodrygo!

Rodrygo in a different position

The Immediate Reaction article described Rodrygo’s position very well:

Rodrygo, who on paper was playing as a right-winger, was far from that. He played as a 10, and played his role perfectly. He drifted to both flanks and roamed all over the field, connecting freely with everyone. He provided vertical outlets for both Toni Kroos and Aurelien Tchouameni, and played tight-knit football with the rest of the attack. With Rodrygo playing a fluid role, Fede Valverde and Dani Carvajal took the right wing.

See below the heat maps based on touch location:

If you were interested in looking at some heat maps based on touch location. Rodrygo extremely narrow; Fede generally wider, but not nearly as wide as Vini. Captures the dynamic quite well I think. pic.twitter.com/ekyShI3yjh

— Om Arvind (@OmVAsports) October 5, 2022

The above thread by Om Arvind is pretty good. Some of his comments, highlighting the dynamic between Fede and Rodrygo:

Generally felt like Carlo was too static last ssn in terms of how he viewed his players, which was a surprise, since sussing out profiles has been his strength. Looks like after a yr of info & expanding on ZZ’s Fede-RW experiment, he’s much more confident manipulating his tools.

What we’re seeing now is definitely one of the best things Carlo has tried in a long time. Fede pseudo RCM-RW with Rodrygo being an inside forward/2nd striker is pretty much the same thing as Di María pseudo LCM-LW with Ronaldo being an inside forward/2nd striker except on the other flank, so it all makes sense really